SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of April 23, 2014)
Sarah Reice’s resume is an impressive one. The Upper Moreland senior is captain of both the varsity field hockey and lacrosse teams. Off the field, she is co-president of her school’s Key Club and has been the treasurer of Class Council since she was a freshman. An excellent student who has a full course load of AP classes, she is a member of the National Honor Society and boasts a GPA of over 96 percent. She is ranked 22nd in her senior class and is involved in countless activities both in and out of school. But that’s not what sets Reice apart. Rather, it’s her irrepressible, indomitable spirit that enables the UM senior to turn any situation into a positive. Talk to her about being part of a pair of teams that have won just a handful of games, and her response is immediate. “I know how far we’ve come, and I know how far we can go, and I know I’ve been part of such a big transition,” Reice said.
A second team all-league defender in hockey last fall, Reice, according to her coach, invariably found herself matched up against the opposing team’s tallest player. “Never once has she let their size intimidate her,” said coach Karen Grossi of her 5-0 defensive back. “Rather she’s eager to show them and everyone else how well she can handle them. She has a positive attitude and always gives her all in the classroom and on the field. The other girls always look up to her.” It’s the same story on the lacrosse field. Reice, according to coach Pam Remmey, is a walking advertisement for the ‘grit’ the veteran coach is looking for from her players. “To make it through a lacrosse season, there are going to be good times and bad times, so we’ve talked a lot about grit and what the word means,” Remmey said. “She was one of the players that won the grit award for her play. Overcoming adversity – that’s what grit is. When we’re getting a lot of goals scored on us, it’s being positive, being positive with the younger players and having grit throughout that game or throughout the season or even throughout a practice when things aren’t going right. She’s really embraced the idea of grit.”
Reice displays a similar spirit off the athletic fields. In addition to participating in numerous volunteer activities offered through Key Club, she was actively involved in the planning the school’s Mini-Thon the past two years and was in charge of the design committee this year. After raising more than $7,000 last year, the six-hour dance marathon raised over $10,000 this year to help fight pediatric cancer. “I pretty much love bringing the school together,” Reice said. “We’re unique because our school is a lot smaller than other schools, so we’ve known each other all the way through everything. I really like getting involved in all these clubs just to get people to come out and do things together and know we can make a difference in our school and in our community and even in the world.”
Next fall, Reice will attend the University of Colorado at Boulder where she will major in finance with an interest in fashion design and merchandising.
To read Reice’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/sarah-reice-0043674
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of April 23, 2014)
It’s all good right now for Chris Jordan. He is playing lacrosse, the game he fell in love with in sixth grade, and will continue doing so on the collegiate level at Elizabethtown College. The second-year captain and four-year varsity performer for Upper Merion coach Brady McCormick is one of the team’s leading scorers after moving from midfield to attack. A season ago, though, a lot was in doubt. Jordan had his proverbial “bell rung” during a game. Initially cleared of a concussion, he wasn’t himself – neither on the field nor in the classroom. “It went on for about two weeks,” recalled Jordan. “I played about five games but something wasn’t right. My grades were also dropping.” Upon further review, he did suffer a concussion and needed to jump through a lot of medical hoops and “red tape” to be cleared for takeoff. Protocol dictated a long recovery. “I was completely shut down,” he said. “Basically, all I was allowed to do was sleep. But my season was over before I was cleared to play. Because of the concussion, I missed most of the year and into the summer. I’m proud of the way I battled back.”
Although he is desperate to end his Upper Merion career with a statement, Jordan’s lacrosse journey is only reaching the halfway point. Many standout student-athletes with an eye toward the future face a tough decision about whether or not to compete at the college level. Some choose a bigger school, opting to maybe scratch their itch by playing their beloved sport at the club or intramural level, while others go the small school route and balance studies and athletics. Jordan fell into the latter group. He approached the process like the building engineer that he is, whittling his list from the schools recruiting him for lacrosse and the ones that met his academic needs – namely a quality engineering program – and his desire to be close to home. He noticed that Andrew Delaney, who had pursued him while coaching at Arcadia, was at Elizabethtown and sent him an e-mail. The interest was mutual, and the deal was sealed after the 90-minute visit to the campus.
What impresses McCormick most about Jordan is his maturity, embodied in his willingness to give back to the community. “(Jordan) helps out in coaching the third and fourth grade club team and really does embody the ‘Grow the game’ spirit,” said McCormick. “He is always positive, willing to help anyone out and just overall a real joy to coach. He’s what you would call a grinder – not flashy, per se; but a lot of grit. His motor is always running, and he plays with heart and determination that’s hard to beat. Chris will never give up and never stop working. This season, as one of our senior captains, he has led the team well.”
To view Jordan’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/chris-jordan-0043673
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